Job aspirants demand cancellation of exam

Bhubaneswar: A number of job seekers on Thursday staged a demonstration outside the residence of Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj here to protest against alleged irregularities in the recruitment of people for various posts. Hundreds of job seekers also staged demonstrations in different parts of the State over the same demand.

The agitators alleged large-scale irregularities in recruiting district cadre posts of revenue inspectors (RIs), ICDS supervisors, assistant RIs, amin and others conducted by Odisha Sub-ordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC).

The OSSSC comes under the Higher Education department and is conducting a recruitment drive to fill

up a total of 2,895 vacant posts. The aspirants demanded the cancellation of the online examination and suggested offline tests for selecting candidates for government posts.

The process of preliminary written examination for the recruitment began on September 20 and will continue till October 20.

They also doubted the manner in which the examination was conducted and alleged a lack of transparency in the process.

Tension prevailed in Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar after aspirants created a ruckus over the conduct of the examination at a cyber café.

Many aspirants took out a rally in Cuttack during the day demanding the cancellation of the examination. The rally was held from Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Bus Terminal in Badambadi to the Collector’s office. They alleged that the government deployed black-listed firms to conduct the examination.

“We demand transparency and cancellation of the examination,” the aspirants shouted while raising slogans during the rally. Sources said that the aspirants also held a similar rally in the Boudh district where police arrested one person.

Neither the minister nor the officials of the OSSSC or the State government were available for comment on the issue.